Ironworking and Deforestation in Pre-Colonial Africa: The Case of Kondoa Irangi, Central Tanzania

Abstract

Pre-industrial ironworking in Africa (and elsewhere for that matter) consumed large quantities of wood and charcoal especially during smelting. As the result, iron smelting has often been associated with deforestation. Infact, this was one of the two main excuses used by colonial authorities to repress local production of iron in a number of places in Africa during the early twentieth century,· the other one being protection of European-made iron products. Iron smelting was directly linked with deforestation and other resultant environmental perils such as soil erosion and desertification. Using archaeological and ethnographic data from Kondoa Irangi in central Tanzania, this article critically examines the validity of associating iron metallurgy with deforestation, and attempts to dissociate myth from  reality.